On the Switch to a 7 Hour School Day
From: Raise Your Hand Coalition <ryh@ilraiseyourhand.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 12:30 AM
| |||||
Mark Smithivas
Connecting my inbox with your world
Great response from RYH
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Raise Your Hand Coalition <ryh@ilraiseyourhand.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 12:30 AM
From: Raise Your Hand Coalition <ryh@ilraiseyourhand.org>
Date: Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 12:30 AM
Dear Hilton
Text of email I sent to Hilton Milwaukee management:
I was very disappointed upon checking in tonight to find out that my hotel reservation did not include access to the waterpark. Instead I had to pay a $50 upgrade so that my family could use the waterpark. I feel the Hilton Milwaukee could have made this more clear when making the reservation, and on it's website. I made the reservation using the Hilton online site, and no mention was made of this during the booking process. Also I checked your hotel website, and the only mention of this is on the waterpark FAQ page, and even that mention is vague. Unless one realizes what a "waterpark package" is, one could easily assume that a standard booking includes waterpark access. I feel you could have made this distinction more clear on the home page and also when making the online booking. As you probably are aware, many waterparks in the Wisconsin area include waterpark access with hotel/motel reservations, so making your hotel's policies deviate from the norm in Wisconsin I believe is confusing to customers like myself that are accustomed to this when vacationing in Wisconsin. I could have stayed elsewhere, at a competitor nearby if I had known this was the case. Instead we chose to stay at the Hilton because of it's reputation for quality but for the future we will look elsewhere.
Cute
Road trip
Sent from my iPad
Rain rain go away
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A note made with Penultimate
Sent from my iPad
Beyond Nuclear statement on Fukushima, Japan
Subject: Beyond Nuclear monitoring Japan's struggle to prevent meltdown
From: "Beyond Nuclear" <cindy@beyondnuclear.org> Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.
Beyond Nuclear monitoring struggle to prevent meltdown in Japan The staff at Beyond Nuclear continues to maintain its round-the-clock vigil, monitoring the situation at Japan’s nuclear reactors after the giant earthquake, and providing the press with information and interviews. The past 24+ hours have witnessed the unfolding nightmare of a potential nuclear reactor meltdown after unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi was crippled due to loss of power after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Workers are flooding the core with seawater and boric acid in an unprecedented attempt to cool the reactor and thereby prevent a meltdown. Beyond Nuclear spokespeople, Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps have been in constant touch with reporters and have made appearances on ABC News, CNN, RT, FOX News and CBC (Canada) to date as well as in running stories in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Beyond Nuclear is providing constant updates on the home page of its website.The evacuation boundary continues to be extended, reaching 20 km (13 miles) at the time of this bulletin. Japanese officials have told the U.N.'s atomic watchdog they are making preparations to distribute iodine, which can be used to protect people from radioactive exposure to the thyroid. Iodine would not prevent other types of radiation exposure and damage, however. The Australian Radiation Service released a map showing the potential radioactive plume pathway and fallout should the Fukushima reactor melt down. The map shows the plume affecting the western United States but Beyond Nuclear has not been able to verify the radiation levels given or to understand how they are derived. This map does not mean that a catastrophic radiation leak has occurred. It represents what would happen to a large radiation release if it were to occur. Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund has already called the accident “one of the three worst accidents we have ever had at a nuclear power plant in the history of nuclear power,” recalling the 1979 Three Mile Island, PA meltdown and the 1986 Chernobyl reactor explosion in Ukraine. Commentator, Keith Olbermann has called for a complete and permanent shutdown of U.S. reactors.
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Please consider posting any or all of the contents of the Beyond Nuclear Bulletin to your websites, blogs, Facebook pages etc and forwarding it to your email lists. You have our full permission to reproduce the Beyond Nuclear Bulletin in full or in part. We so much appreciate your helping us further inform ever wider audiences about our work and the issues we cover. Thank you!
Join our network
Donate Beyond Nuclear
6930 Carroll Avenue #400
Takoma Park, MD 20912
From: "Mary Olson" <maryo@nirs.org>
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:17:32 -0500
Subject: [N3Yall] FW: Resources on Nuclear Accidents + Gordon's expert opinion
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01CBE0EA.20E7E8F6" All – Gordon Edwards is one of our technical resources outside the lies of government and industry. His views in the second half of the message below should be forwarded on and out and reach the decision makers if we can get them there! Mary Mary Olson maryo@nirs.org NIRS Southeast 828-252-8409 / cell 828-242-5621
From: Gordon Edwards [mailto:ccnr@web.ca]
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 1:42 PM
To: Gordon Edwards
Subject: Resources on Nuclear Accidents Friends: At the suggestion of one of our long-time board members, I have moved some Resources about Nuclear Accidents to the top of the CCNR web page. See http://ccnr.org For some technical information regarding the 3 reactors (out of 6 total) that are in a state of emergency at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Generating Station, and the 4 reactors at the Fukushima Da-ini Generation Station that are also in a state of emergency, see the World Nuclear News report which was posted about noon today (Montreal time) http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_... According to this report, the biggest problem in all these affected reactors is the limited ability to condense steam and therefore the buildup of pressure inside the building which can only be relieved by condensation or release to the atmosphere. The steam is radioactive but not like the intensely radioactive-laden releases from Chernobyl. How- ever there is radioactive iodine, cesium, strontium, and a couple of dozen other radioactive elements in this steam (that's my comment). According to the same report, the only two reactors where the actual water level in the core is down is units 1 and 2 of the Da-ichi generating station. Of these unit 1 is in a worse condition; in unit 2 the water level is said to be down but stabilized. Unit 1 is the reactor that had an explosion which destroyed much of the reactor building but according to the authorities did not compromise the actual airtight containment of the reactor itself. They are using sea water to try and cool things down inside these reactors. I believe that Japanese authorities should be urging children and pregnant women to evacuate much further away from these damaged reactors because radioactive iodine is avidly taken up by into the thyroid gland of fetuses and children, even more so than adults. In addition to thyroid cancer there is a host of developmental problems that can be caused by inhibited thyroid functioning such as mental retardation, stunted growth, and a number of abnomalities in developing organs. WHO admits that over 5000 children in Bellarusse had to have their thyroid glands surgically removed because of the Chernobyl accident but I have seen nothing published by them about other thyroid disorders and related developmental problems. In particular people should be warned about fresh milk, including mother's breast milk, which is one of the most important vectors for delivering radioactive iodine to the fetus/infant/child. Better to use powdered milk that was prepared before the radioactive releases started than to use fresh milk which will incorporate and concentrate the radioactive iodine. Gordon Edwards.
From: "Beyond Nuclear" <cindy@beyondnuclear.org> Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.
Beyond Nuclear monitoring struggle to prevent meltdown in Japan The staff at Beyond Nuclear continues to maintain its round-the-clock vigil, monitoring the situation at Japan’s nuclear reactors after the giant earthquake, and providing the press with information and interviews. The past 24+ hours have witnessed the unfolding nightmare of a potential nuclear reactor meltdown after unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi was crippled due to loss of power after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Workers are flooding the core with seawater and boric acid in an unprecedented attempt to cool the reactor and thereby prevent a meltdown. Beyond Nuclear spokespeople, Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps have been in constant touch with reporters and have made appearances on ABC News, CNN, RT, FOX News and CBC (Canada) to date as well as in running stories in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Beyond Nuclear is providing constant updates on the home page of its website.The evacuation boundary continues to be extended, reaching 20 km (13 miles) at the time of this bulletin. Japanese officials have told the U.N.'s atomic watchdog they are making preparations to distribute iodine, which can be used to protect people from radioactive exposure to the thyroid. Iodine would not prevent other types of radiation exposure and damage, however. The Australian Radiation Service released a map showing the potential radioactive plume pathway and fallout should the Fukushima reactor melt down. The map shows the plume affecting the western United States but Beyond Nuclear has not been able to verify the radiation levels given or to understand how they are derived. This map does not mean that a catastrophic radiation leak has occurred. It represents what would happen to a large radiation release if it were to occur. Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund has already called the accident “one of the three worst accidents we have ever had at a nuclear power plant in the history of nuclear power,” recalling the 1979 Three Mile Island, PA meltdown and the 1986 Chernobyl reactor explosion in Ukraine. Commentator, Keith Olbermann has called for a complete and permanent shutdown of U.S. reactors.
Share the Bulletin!
Please consider posting any or all of the contents of the Beyond Nuclear Bulletin to your websites, blogs, Facebook pages etc and forwarding it to your email lists. You have our full permission to reproduce the Beyond Nuclear Bulletin in full or in part. We so much appreciate your helping us further inform ever wider audiences about our work and the issues we cover. Thank you!
Join our network
Donate Beyond Nuclear
6930 Carroll Avenue #400
Takoma Park, MD 20912
From: "Mary Olson" <maryo@nirs.org>
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:17:32 -0500
Subject: [N3Yall] FW: Resources on Nuclear Accidents + Gordon's expert opinion
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01CBE0EA.20E7E8F6" All – Gordon Edwards is one of our technical resources outside the lies of government and industry. His views in the second half of the message below should be forwarded on and out and reach the decision makers if we can get them there! Mary Mary Olson maryo@nirs.org NIRS Southeast 828-252-8409 / cell 828-242-5621
From: Gordon Edwards [mailto:ccnr@web.ca]
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 1:42 PM
To: Gordon Edwards
Subject: Resources on Nuclear Accidents Friends: At the suggestion of one of our long-time board members, I have moved some Resources about Nuclear Accidents to the top of the CCNR web page. See http://ccnr.org For some technical information regarding the 3 reactors (out of 6 total) that are in a state of emergency at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Generating Station, and the 4 reactors at the Fukushima Da-ini Generation Station that are also in a state of emergency, see the World Nuclear News report which was posted about noon today (Montreal time) http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_... According to this report, the biggest problem in all these affected reactors is the limited ability to condense steam and therefore the buildup of pressure inside the building which can only be relieved by condensation or release to the atmosphere. The steam is radioactive but not like the intensely radioactive-laden releases from Chernobyl. How- ever there is radioactive iodine, cesium, strontium, and a couple of dozen other radioactive elements in this steam (that's my comment). According to the same report, the only two reactors where the actual water level in the core is down is units 1 and 2 of the Da-ichi generating station. Of these unit 1 is in a worse condition; in unit 2 the water level is said to be down but stabilized. Unit 1 is the reactor that had an explosion which destroyed much of the reactor building but according to the authorities did not compromise the actual airtight containment of the reactor itself. They are using sea water to try and cool things down inside these reactors. I believe that Japanese authorities should be urging children and pregnant women to evacuate much further away from these damaged reactors because radioactive iodine is avidly taken up by into the thyroid gland of fetuses and children, even more so than adults. In addition to thyroid cancer there is a host of developmental problems that can be caused by inhibited thyroid functioning such as mental retardation, stunted growth, and a number of abnomalities in developing organs. WHO admits that over 5000 children in Bellarusse had to have their thyroid glands surgically removed because of the Chernobyl accident but I have seen nothing published by them about other thyroid disorders and related developmental problems. In particular people should be warned about fresh milk, including mother's breast milk, which is one of the most important vectors for delivering radioactive iodine to the fetus/infant/child. Better to use powdered milk that was prepared before the radioactive releases started than to use fresh milk which will incorporate and concentrate the radioactive iodine. Gordon Edwards.
__._,_.___
.
__,_._,___
Please read: message from Libya
---------- Forwarded message ---------- One of my dear friends in the CIIS program emails when she can sneak a
message out of Libya:
Many many thanks for all your kind words and support. They really
mean more than I had ever expected at this time. At this difficult
time, when you feel so vulnerable and alone it is good to know that
some people actually care about our well-being. Thank you. We are still alive! It has been a very very rough couple of days. It
is pure terror. Streets are full of big men shooting at people on
sight, especially during the night. Hummers covered in an iron cage
are roaming the streets with Kalishnikovs and other things going off
from them. Toyota landcruisers with anti-aircraft artillery fixed on
the top of the vehicle, fire in the air and on people. A couple of
days ago a large group of anti-government protesters gathered and were
marching to the main square of Tripoli when all hell broke loose.
Army Helicopters flew on top of them and fired on them in the middle
of the street. AS soon as the helicopters would stop the Land
cruisers and hummers would take over. And these protestors had no
arms! Then Army Helicopters and aircrafts went on to fire
intensively on main streets of 3 big neighborhoods in Tripoli.
Injured people and dead bodies lay on the streets and people were
unable to pull them out of the way in fear of the shooting
landcruisers and hummers which were speeding through the streets and
shooting randomly. My cousin describes it was like a hunter shooting
a flock of pigeons, several were falling at one time. I saw nothing
because we locked our house, and pulled down the shutters. But the
sounds and smell gave a clear picture. I am not sure how many people
have died in Tripoli thus far and we will never know for sure until
Kaddaffi is out of the picture. But my friend who works in the central
hospital can not even describe what he sees. Many many many dead,
even women and babies. They shoot anyone who happens to be on the
street when they pass and women holding their babies are not exempt.
I am also not sure who is alive and who is dead of the people I know.
I know my close relatives are still ok, at least no one is dead. But
all communication is cut off – no phone, no internet. We try to sneak
on foreign networks to find out if our close relatives in other parts
of the city are still alive. Even some news channels like Al Jazeera
have been cut off and no reporters are allowed in Libya. The
government has isolated us completely so that the outside world (as
well as the inside world) does not know what is happening in Libya.
Still some people manage to sneak information and some pictures out of
the country- I do not know how. It is difficult. We are imprisoned in our home, glued to the TV
trying to learn about what is happening in our country. Life has
stopped. Our kids are terrorized. There is a shortage of food and
bread because shops are closed. Pharmacies are closed, we have no
access to medicine. I am out of fever syrup and my daughter is still
sick with fever. We are all sick. We move, but we are not really
alive. After Kadaffi's speech yesterday it seems the worst is yet to come.
Today things are calm, but then again, he offered a cease fire for 24
hrs. After this time any protestors seen on the streets will be
attacked. And as he said, he has not used "any force" yet. I wonder
what "force" means to him. If army aircrafts, helicopters,
anti-aircraft artillery, tanks, Kalishnikovs and guns are not force
than what is. Last night they were forcing people to go out in a
progovernment demonstration. They came to our gate, fired some shots
in the air, tried to break the gate open and shouted for us to join
the demonstrations in the green square. We did not budge, we did not
even breath until they moved on to the next house. They probably
thought we were on our way already. Thousands of people were shown on
state TV cheering for Kaddafi on the main square, but then again who
would dare not to. As I said tonight things are calm, but it is a tense calm.
Anti-government protestors are planning to continue to go on the
streets peacefully even when they know it means death. They feel
continuing under this man is death anyway. I admire their courage,
bravery and selflessness. These young men are making Libya's future
knowing that they might not even live to enjoy it. On the one hand I
want this to be over soon, but on the other hand if ending this soon
would mean still having Kaddaffi , then I want it to go on for as long
as it takes. He has done enough and he needs to be stopped at any
cost. The last days have shown that the cost will be very heavy. Thank you again and I will contact you whenever the circumstances permit. Amel The more we sweat for peace, the less we bleed in war.
- Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
message out of Libya:
Many many thanks for all your kind words and support. They really
mean more than I had ever expected at this time. At this difficult
time, when you feel so vulnerable and alone it is good to know that
some people actually care about our well-being. Thank you. We are still alive! It has been a very very rough couple of days. It
is pure terror. Streets are full of big men shooting at people on
sight, especially during the night. Hummers covered in an iron cage
are roaming the streets with Kalishnikovs and other things going off
from them. Toyota landcruisers with anti-aircraft artillery fixed on
the top of the vehicle, fire in the air and on people. A couple of
days ago a large group of anti-government protesters gathered and were
marching to the main square of Tripoli when all hell broke loose.
Army Helicopters flew on top of them and fired on them in the middle
of the street. AS soon as the helicopters would stop the Land
cruisers and hummers would take over. And these protestors had no
arms! Then Army Helicopters and aircrafts went on to fire
intensively on main streets of 3 big neighborhoods in Tripoli.
Injured people and dead bodies lay on the streets and people were
unable to pull them out of the way in fear of the shooting
landcruisers and hummers which were speeding through the streets and
shooting randomly. My cousin describes it was like a hunter shooting
a flock of pigeons, several were falling at one time. I saw nothing
because we locked our house, and pulled down the shutters. But the
sounds and smell gave a clear picture. I am not sure how many people
have died in Tripoli thus far and we will never know for sure until
Kaddaffi is out of the picture. But my friend who works in the central
hospital can not even describe what he sees. Many many many dead,
even women and babies. They shoot anyone who happens to be on the
street when they pass and women holding their babies are not exempt.
I am also not sure who is alive and who is dead of the people I know.
I know my close relatives are still ok, at least no one is dead. But
all communication is cut off – no phone, no internet. We try to sneak
on foreign networks to find out if our close relatives in other parts
of the city are still alive. Even some news channels like Al Jazeera
have been cut off and no reporters are allowed in Libya. The
government has isolated us completely so that the outside world (as
well as the inside world) does not know what is happening in Libya.
Still some people manage to sneak information and some pictures out of
the country- I do not know how. It is difficult. We are imprisoned in our home, glued to the TV
trying to learn about what is happening in our country. Life has
stopped. Our kids are terrorized. There is a shortage of food and
bread because shops are closed. Pharmacies are closed, we have no
access to medicine. I am out of fever syrup and my daughter is still
sick with fever. We are all sick. We move, but we are not really
alive. After Kadaffi's speech yesterday it seems the worst is yet to come.
Today things are calm, but then again, he offered a cease fire for 24
hrs. After this time any protestors seen on the streets will be
attacked. And as he said, he has not used "any force" yet. I wonder
what "force" means to him. If army aircrafts, helicopters,
anti-aircraft artillery, tanks, Kalishnikovs and guns are not force
than what is. Last night they were forcing people to go out in a
progovernment demonstration. They came to our gate, fired some shots
in the air, tried to break the gate open and shouted for us to join
the demonstrations in the green square. We did not budge, we did not
even breath until they moved on to the next house. They probably
thought we were on our way already. Thousands of people were shown on
state TV cheering for Kaddafi on the main square, but then again who
would dare not to. As I said tonight things are calm, but it is a tense calm.
Anti-government protestors are planning to continue to go on the
streets peacefully even when they know it means death. They feel
continuing under this man is death anyway. I admire their courage,
bravery and selflessness. These young men are making Libya's future
knowing that they might not even live to enjoy it. On the one hand I
want this to be over soon, but on the other hand if ending this soon
would mean still having Kaddaffi , then I want it to go on for as long
as it takes. He has done enough and he needs to be stopped at any
cost. The last days have shown that the cost will be very heavy. Thank you again and I will contact you whenever the circumstances permit. Amel The more we sweat for peace, the less we bleed in war.
- Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Waiting for the (education) world to change
Am I the only one waiting for a reasonable alternative to between a) public schools or b) heinously expensive private schools. Homeschooling you say? Fuhgeddaboutit. Catholic schools? Sure, if you remove the religious indoctrination. What about charter schools? Yeah, in principle, but unfortunately the whole issue of charter schools has been politicized well beyond the point of absurdity, and recent studies have shown they don't perform any better than public schools.
No, what I really want is either a public school that can innovate without the burden of an 800lb massively ineffectual bureaucracy hindering it every step of the way, OR a private school that is reasonably priced so that you aren't forced to sell an organ to meet the tuition cost. Why hasn't anyone successfully disrupted the education system, much like other industries like travel agents, bookstores, and photo printing? We've got the internet, a surplus of teachers, and a lot of knowledge about how to impart knowledge. It seems like one of the core issues is that education just doesn't seem to scale well. Once you've got to manage a school district of thousands of students from various socio-economic backgrounds while pleasing various politicians, federal agencies, and so forth, you're getting away from teaching and more into managing the status quo. I can't tell you enough stories of head-banging experiences trying to get the simplest things done in the Chicago Public School system.
I want my kids to grow up experiencing a learning environment that is broad in scope, learning in a cohort that may be older or younger, doing project-based learning, and accepting the reality that computers and Google will be with us for a long while. Oh and forget about so much testing. All that does is let government bureaucrats keep score. In the end all that matters is whether Johnny can read, write, balance his checkbook, analyze a line of reasoning, know how to use the internet to find answers, and become a productive member of society. Also, let parents be a real partner agent for change, rather than keeping them at arm's length.
As apps move to the cloud distraction increases
Maybe it's just me, but I've found that as more and more of my daily tasks and chores migrate to the "cloud", the potential for distraction, and hence, wasted time and lost productivity increases. For example:
I need to login to my online banking account to pay bills. But as I launch my browser, it automatically loads my home page, which is currently set to ESPN. I can't help but browse the latest scores, columns, and video replays. Oh, and of course check my fantasy football rankings.Or, let's say I need to check Gmail to send an important e-mail. But after logging in, I see that one of my buddies is also logged into GChat. This triggers my memory that I needed to ask her about recommendations for an Italian restaurant on the north side that's family-friendly. Fifteen minutes later, we've had a nice chat session and caught up on our respective lives, and oh, what was that I was supposed to do again? And of course, in that 15 minutes, six new e-mails have arrived in my inbox for perusal.
There is practically no website in existence that doesn't surround its core information these days with eye-catching ads, links to related articles, social media updates, or some whiz-bang new feature it's imploring you to activate. I think I'd actually pay to have a non-distracting version of the sites I need to visit on a daily basis, simply for the increase in productivity. What I need, in essence, is the internet version of blinders, like the kind race horses wear at the track.
